Lachlan Murdoch sells remaining shares in family business

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10 December, 2009 11:30 AM

Lachlan Murdoch, the eldest son of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, sold his remaining non-voting shares in News Corp this week.

According to a filing made on Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US, Lachlan's trust sold 2.3 million Class A News Corp shares for $28.3 million. This sale follows a similar one last week that saw Lachlan (pictured) sell another 2.3 million shares.

Lachlan received the shares as part of an agreement to split the family stake in News Corp between him and his siblings in 2007. Each received 4.3 million Class A shares, a stake that was valued at $100 million at the time. He is still a member of the family trust, which controls 38% of News Corp's voting stock.

Lachlan served as chief operating officer in the family business until he left in 2005 to start his own media company Illyria. Last month he completed his biggest deal since starting his business when he purchased a 50% stake in an Australian radio group DMG Radio.

Lachlan's younger brother James leads the European and Asian operations of News Corp, which was founded in 1953. The company now owns the Twentieth Century Fox film studios, US-newspaper the Wall Street Journal and the UK-daily The Times, along with other various assets, and had 2008/2009 revenues of $30 billion.